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ASSISTANCE NEEDED!

So I need a little help guys. I’m trying to get the word out about my book, Quiet Courage, and what better way I figure than asking the tumblrverse for some assistance.

If everybody that follows me could just reblog this message once when you see it, that’s 150 some odd blogs this post is on that it wasn’t before! Help me out and support a changing movement to bring more LGBT characters to the front of every genre.

We live in an incredibly changing era and its time for everyone to have a visual representation in the media. Since I was young I’ve always found escape between the pages of a good fantasy adventure. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The worlds of Tamora Pierce, all of them brought me so much excitement and solace as I struggled fitting in at school and in life.

But despite their splendor these stories never fully resonated with me. I never found someone like me. So I decided one day to make my own. What resulted was the world of Sundast and Cienn’s story in Quiet Courage. Cienn is an openly gay youth in a home that doesn’t quite know how to accept him. His struggle personifies the journey thousands of young gay men and women, including myself, experienced growing up. I won’t lie, being a gay youth in today’s society still isn’t easy. Many of us still struggle to find our place in the world.

We unfortunately live in a world only halfway to perfection. Many of us have seen the errors of the past and are striving to change for the better. But there is still the influence of those that came before us weighing heavily on the shoulders of today. We see that in the seemingly never-ending list of teen suicides, the continued hate crimes both at home and overseas, and the snail’s pace of change of social reform. And while we lock ourselves in this boisterous, overly dramatic argument about the rights of human beings some of those human beings get left on the wayside crying out for a lifeline.

Some lifelines do exist. And more are popping up all the time. But the fact of the matter is that the people who need these messages of acceptance and equality aren’t the 45-year-old moms who absolutely love Kurt on Glee, but are the boys and girls who cry themselves to sleep at night wishing they could just be normal. They need to know there is someone out there just like them who rises above the expectations society sets on them. They need to know that “normal” is what you make it and they need to know that it’s still okay to love whomever you choose.

I needed this story growing up, and I would hate to deny the next generation something I wish that I’d had. So I thank you for helping me spread this message. And if I can bring solace to even one person I will have done my job. If you are one of those people who are confused and lonely, this is for you.

The book is available for purchase in all of its splendor (currently as an ebook or paperback) or can be read for free online. Just follow the link and head on over to sundast.tumblr.com/home or click the image above.

Thanks again!

~Patrick, author and illustrator for Quiet Courage